Review - "Fairy Tales for Modern Queers"

"Fairy Tales for Modern Queers" by Emily Reed

Gay teenager Hart could finish his fairy tale for class if his horrible stepsiblings would stop harassing him. Talia’s depression is like a sleeping curse and may kill her if she doesn’t ask for help. Independent, overweight bisexual Sienna deals with her “nice guy” neighbor while visiting her grandmother. When a mysterious girl climbs up Rachael’s fire escape, Rachael might finally break free from her overprotective mother. Transgender Amelia is bullied regularly for her identity, but she’ll show everyone exactly who she is. Princess Rellyn must face down a dragon since she’s seventh in line and battle her father since she's not a boy, and she’s not sure which one is scarier. An adventurous knight whisks away genderfluid Noll when all they want is a quiet life on their farm. Mermaid Astrid wants revenge on the man who betrayed her, but is confused by her attraction to the one sailor immune to her song. Asexual Myka might love Princess Lysandria, but Myka must learn to control her inner werewolf before the king marries her off to “cure” her. With the help of a witch, blacksmith’s apprentice Malcolm must find his missing prince.

You’ve never heard stories like these at bedtime.

[Goodreads]

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley and Harmony Ink Press for giving me the chance to sneak an early peek into this :)

What got me so interested in the book first was actually the title. Representation and fairy tales? Two of my favorite things! The retellings were super fun and enjoyable, the writing was on top and the characters relatable. Emily Reed did an amazing job at creating these characters and introducing them to the readers. Although the characters are part of the lgbtq+ community, their idenity/sexuality etc. is not the main part of the stories in that sense, it's more like finding your place, acceptance, growing up or just finding a way to turn into a werewolf without killing someone - there's things for everyone in it.

My favorite story was probably "Fire Escape" (because I'm a huge sucker for Rapunzel's story - and it felt more like reading "Tangled" modern au fanfiction) and "Granny's House" where bisexual Sienna gets rid of her creepy neighbor, who won't take a no for an answer (Sienna is my hero)

Overall it was an easy read and the story's are pretty much straight forward. So if you want something to read for a lazy Sunday, something fun and still serious, and if you like fairy tales - "Fairy Tales for Modern Queers" is your book!